China’s Wind Power Sector Foresees a Recovery in 2014

Although some reports indicated that the wind power sector in China showed minimal growth in 2013, the actual situation was not so grim. Recently released statistics pointed to a recovery in the industry, with newly installed capacity rising 24 percent year on year, the bid invitation price rising nearly 15 percent, and the average year-on-year annual wind farm utilization time increasing by more than 100 hours. Newly installed capacity is expected to maintain a growth rate of 20 percent over the next few years, as the grid connection becomes easier and the Chinese government establishes more favorable policies.

Data for 2013 show the wind power industry in China has bottomed out. Last year, the industry recorded newly installed capacity of 16.1 GW, 24 percent more than the 13.0 GW installed in 2012 and bringing the total to 90 GW. The recovery was also reflected in the bid-invitation price for wind turbine generators, which improved to 4,000 yuan ($US 670)/KW in 2013 from a low of 3,600 yuan ($US 600)/KW in June 2011.

According to Shi Pengfei, Honorary Chairman of the Chinese Wind Energy Association, there were three main reasons for the recovery. Firstly, the Ministry of Finance has begun to pay the additional subsidies for renewable energy up front, significantly reducing the time necessary for developers to obtain the subsidies so they can be turned around and deployed. Secondly, the decline in the coal price vastly improved the financial positions of China’s five largest power generation groups, allowing them to allocate more investment in the renewable energy sector. Lastly, developers have realized that they can no longer so viciously cut the bid-invitation price for wind turbine generators, as this would lead to poor quality equipment and in turn have a negative effect on their productivity. In the first half of 2013, the capacity in tender invitations totaled 8.8 GW, an increase of 100 percent year on year.

The limitation on wind power supply saw relief last year, with the average wind farm utilization exceeded 2,000 hours, compared with 1,900 hours in 2012, according to Shi Lishan, Deputy Head of the New and Renewable Energy Division at the National Energy Administration.

In 2014, several favorable policies will be rolled out. At the beginning of the new year, the National Energy Administration issued the Notice on Building Offshore Wind Power Projects, according to which the administration will choose several of the larger projects in several provinces this year as the ones to develop, said Shi. In addition, the watchdog organization will issue the long-awaited Quota Management Methods on Renewable-Energy Power, a document delineating a clear schema for the quota distribution of renewable energy for power generating companies, grid companies and provinces. This will allow all parties to deploy more wind power and PV power projects as the seek to make full use of their quotas.

Furthermore, the Ministry of Science and Technology will kick off a batch of research projects to support of the development of the wind power sector, according to Qin Haiyan, secretary general of the Chinese Wind Energy Association.

China aims to install 18 GW of wind power projects in 2014. Findings at the recently concluded National Energy Working Conference 2014 revealed that the country is on track to approve 14 GW of wind power projects (60 percent of which will be distributed projects). In addition, the country aims to bring the price for wind and solar power in alignment with that for thermal power by 2020.

1 Comments

There are 3 main reasons why current wind turbine generators are so ridiculously expensive per watt.
1). The cost per watt of Any turbine-generator (Alternator) is a necklace-shaped function when graphed against (log) physical Size, i.e. diameter. This is because the cost per watt of Alternators reduces as size, i.e. thro'put, increases, i,e. Big ones cost Less per watt, whilst with turbines the oposite is true, because we pay - i.e. expend energy ,- for the Weight of materials required, whilst what gives us the produce, is the Area of weather faced.
2) Mode of operation. There are two possibilities.
a) Constant pitch, and arrange for revs to suit the wind
b) Constant Revs. and arrange for Pitch to suit.
Mode a) provides an output which changes as the cube of the windspeed
Mode b) gives an approximately directly related output to windspeed.
"Windfarms" run at synchronous grid speed and so use mode b). Some attempt to run in mode a) by fitting a gear-shift in the drive. This of course simply Burns out the alternator which is still turning at the same speed, but has to provide current beyond its capacity.
3) "Wind shear". The fact that weather is not uniform and accurate, and so the bigger the rotor, the less it is able to present the right pitch-angle to the wind.
The lowest cost per watt can be seen to be with sizes where the T costs about the same as the A. This occurs at around 0.5 to 1, maybe 2, metre diameter.
The solution to the above, and more, has been here in C. Nikiup, 5068,Bulgaria, for some years now- ignored by them all.

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Nanjing Shanglong Communications Liu Yuanyuan is Director of Operations and Co-Founder of Nanjing Shanglong Communications. Liu Yuanyuan previously held the position of office manager at the London Financial Times' China translation and...